Drivers struggle through three feet of water as Boston tunnel floods

A ‘rare occurrence’ led to drivers having to make their way through a flooded tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, last week. 

A storm hit the US city on Wednesday, December 12, causing the Ted Williams Tunnel to fill up with around three feet of water. 

The tunnel carries Interstate 90 under Boston Harbor from South Boston to East Boston and footage from the scene showed that it was pretty busy when the flood hit. 

Video clips that went viral online, showed the cars slowly making their way through gallons of water as they attempted to exit the tunnel.

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Drivers heading through a Boston tunnel were met with floods

It’s no secret that cars and flooded roads aren’t exactly a match made in heaven – so much so the owner of a Porsche 911 went to drastic measures to keep his car safe and someone else wrapped their Corvette in a plastic sheet to protect it from a Category 3 hurricane.

But over in Boston last week, a ‘very very rare occurrence’ meant that motorists were left with no option but to push on through around three feet of water to get out of the Ted Williams Tunnel. 

“That’s a lot of water. It’s about 130,000 gallons of standing water that was on the roadways so quite a bit to deal with,” MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver told WCVB.

He told the news outlet that the flooding was caused by the heavy rainfall and a clog from one of the catch basins. 

The floods were a ‘very very rare occurrence’

He went to reassure members of the local community that the tunnel system was safe to use. 

“I want to assure people the tunnel systems are safe. This is a very, very rare occurrence that we have that kind of flooding,” he went on. “And again, to to be clear, that that is surface water runoff.” 

But that was probably little comfort to the poor folks who had to make their way through the flooded tunnel. 

What it's like driving in Boston tonight…

🙃 pic.twitter.com/fFUOfQKl1l

— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) December 12, 2024

In an attempt to stop other motorists from finding themselves in the same situation, Massachusetts State Police diverted traffic to surface roads and the tunnel was shut for several hours. 

Here’s hoping no cars were too badly damaged as a result.